1. Abstract noun – абстрактное существительное – refers to states, events, concepts, feelings, etc., that have no physical existence.
Abstract nouns can be countable (исчисляемые): e.g. an idea, a plan,
a thought, and uncountable (неисчисляемые): e.g. freedom, love, music.
2. Adjective – a word that serves as a modifier of a noun to denote its quality, quantity, state, etc. It answers the questions ‘what kind of?’, ‘which?’ Прилагательное – часть речи, которая обозначает признак предмета, отвечает на вопросы «какой?», «который?».
e.g.
She is a lovely girl.
The people involved must be punished.
• Descriptive (описательные) – answer the question "what kind of?" and have degrees of comparison (nice, beautiful, clever); gradable adjectives.
• Limiting (уточняющие/ ограничительные) – answer the question "which?" These adjectives specify the qualities of the noun due to their lexical meaning (main, principal, central, right, wrong, etc.) These are usually non-gradable adjectives.
• Gradable – изменяющиеся по степеням – having degrees of comparison (good – better – best; nice – nicer – nicest).
• Non-gradable – не имеющие степени сравнения – admit no comparison due to their lexical meaning (perfect, unique, square, round).
• Qualitative – качественные – denote properties of the substance directly (cold, beautiful, ugly).
• Relative – относительные – describe properties of the substance through relation to material, time, place, action (woolen, daily, Russian, defensive).
• Substantivized – субстантивированные – those which are treated and function as nouns (the rich – богатые, the incredible – невероятное).
See also: Attribute; Noun Modifier; Substantivized Adjectives.
3. Adverbial – обстоятельство – is a word or a group of words that functions in the same way as an adverb.
e.g. Before the play, we dropped in at the pub. (an adverbial of time)
See also: Adjuncts, Conjuncts, Disjuncts; Adverbial clause, Adverbial modifier.
4. Adjunct – адъюнкт – any word or words, an optional member of the sentence, which functions like and adverb and modifies the verb to show time, manner, place, degree, etc.
e.g. It is nearly done (nearly – an adjunct, describing degree).
My neighbour died two months ago. (two months ago – an adjunct, denoting time).
5. Adverbial clause – a subordinate clause of a complex sentence – придаточное обстоятельственное сложно-подчиненное предложение.
Adverbial clauses are classified according to their meaning (semantics): adverbial clauses of manner, place, time, comparison, condition, concession, purpose, cause, result.
• Adverbial clause of place – придаточное места
e.g. I could not find my car where I had left it.
• Adverbial clause of manner – придаточное образа действия
e.g. She was dancing as if he were weightless.
• Adverbial clause of time – придаточное времени
e.g. When she returned home the children were sleeping.
• Adverbial clause of comparison – придаточное сравнения
e.g. Brian looked so tired as though he had not slept for 3 days.
• Adverbial clause of condition – придаточное условия
e.g. If you don’t work hard enough, you will not pass your exams.
• Adverbial clause of concession – придаточное уступки
e.g. Even if you tell her the whole truth, she won’t believe you.
• Adverbial clause of purpose – придаточное цели
e.g. I will give you the details so that you could use them in the report.
• Adverbial clause of cause (reason) – придаточное причины
e.g. Michel failed his exam because he had missed all the lectures on the subject.
• Adverbial clause of result – придаточное результата
e.g. She was so beautiful that he could not take his eyes off her.
6. Adverbial modifier – обстоятельство – a secondary, usually optional, part of the sentence, which modifies a verb, an adjective or an adverb. Adverbial modifiers are classified according their semantics: adverbial modifiers of place, time, manner, cause/reason, purpose, result, condition, concession, attendant circumstances, subsequent events, comparison, degree, exception.
e.g.
Much as I like John, I can’t put up with his behavior. (an adverbial modifier of concession – обстоятельство уступки).
They were slowly walking along the street without meeting anyone.
(
slowly – adverbial of manner – обстоятельство образа действия;
along the street – adverbial of place – обстоятельство места;
without meeting anyone – an adverbial of attendant circumstances – обстоятельство сопутствующих условий).
She is too clever to believe this nonsense. (an adverbial modifier of result– обстоятельство результата)
Structurally, adverbial modifiers are simple, phrasal, complex and clausal.
• Simple adverbial modifier – is expressed by a single word.
e.g. I was at home yesterday.
• Phrasal adverbial modifier – is expressed by a phrase (infinitive, gerundial, participial, nominal).
e.g. Jane has come to help about the house. (an infinitive phrase)
Without much reading you cannot broaden your outlook. (a gerundial phrase)
The kids laughed happily playing in the garden. (participial phrase)
There were no lights in the huge, deserted house opposite. (a nominal phrase)
• Complex adverbial modifier – is expressed by a construction (an absolute nominative construction, gerundial construction, for-to-infinitive construction).
e.g.
She was sitting in the armchair, a book in her lap.
Dinner over,
we went out into the garden.
• Clausal adverbial modifier – see An Adverbial Clause.
7. Adversative coordination – type of coordination between the clauses of a compound sentence. The clauses are joined with the help of coordinators but, however, nevertheless, still, yet etc. Противительная связь – тип связи в сложно-сочиненном предложении.
e.g. I offered him my help but he refused.
See also: Copulative coordination, Disjunctive coordination, Causative-consecutive coordination.
8. Analytical form – аналитическая форма – building a word form (e.g. degrees of adjectives) with the help of word morphemes, also known as auxiliaries.
e.g. more interesting, most beautiful, less important.
See also: Synthetic form.
9. Anaphoric (reference backwards) – ссылка назад – applies to an antecedent, to a preceding word, phrase, statement.
e.g. He met a beautiful woman at the party. The lady was in red.
See also: Cataphoric reference.
10. Antecedent – предыдущее слово/выражение – a previous expression being referred to.
11. Apposition – приложение – a grammatical construction, usually a nominal phrase or clause, which modifies a noun. In writing, the apposition is either detached, i.e. set off by commas, or non-detached.
e.g. Mrs. Thompson, a woman of an uncertain age, was also invited to the party.
My friend Alice gave me a lovely birthday present.
See also: An Appositive Clause.
12. Appositive clause – придаточное приложение/придаточное определительное аппозитивное –a subordinate clause of a complex sentence modifying an abstract countable noun (e.g. an idea, a plan, a fact, a reason, a remark), which requires additional information. The appositive clause is never separated by a comma.
e.g. The fact that you have not got appropriate references is not to your benefit.
I don’t approve of the idea that he should go there alone.
13. Assertive forms – утвердительные формы - word forms which usually occur in affirmative and declarative statements (already, sometimes, somewhat, too, etc.).
Opposite: Non-assertive forms – не утвердительные формы – are the word-forms which are usually used in negative and interrogative statements (yet, ever, at all, either, etc.).
e.g. I am somewhat tired. – I am not at all tired.
14. Asyndetic coordination – бессоюзная связь – coordination of independent clauses of a compound sentence without special connectors. In writing, asyndetically joined clauses are separated by a colon ( : ), semicolon ( ; ), or a dash ( - ).
e.g. Gwen did not trust Jacob; he did not take any trouble to make her change her attitude.
15. Attribute – определение – a secondary member of the sentence modifying a noun or another word of nominal nature in terms of a state, quality, evaluation etc.
e.g. She was a woman of astonishing looks and gentle attitude.
All the people present voted against that proposition.
See also: Noun Modifier.
16. Auxiliary verb – вспомогательный глагол – a verb used to help express aspect, voice, or modality for the main verb of its clause (Also known as a helping verb).
e.g. My Uncle is writing a book now. 3 chapters have already been completed.
1. Cataphoric reference – ссылка вперед – applies to reference forward, to a layer expression. (Less common in English than anaphoric reference)
e.g. He switched off the lights and the darkness helped him concentrate.
2. Causative-consecutive coordination – type of coordination between the clauses of a compound sentence. The clauses are joined with the help of coordinators for, therefore, so, etc. Причинно-следственная связь – тип связи в сложносочиненном предложении.
e.g. We do not travel abroad, for we can’t afford it.
She looked at me with reproach, so I changed the subject.
3. Cognate object – родственное (однокоренное) дополнение – is expressed by a noun derived from, or semantically related to, the rood of the verb.
e.g. to live a life, to smile a smile etc.
They have lived a long and happy life.
4. Collective nouns – собирательные существительные. They fall into 3 groups: collective proper (group nouns), nouns of multitude and mass nouns.
• Collective proper (собственно собирательные) may be plural or singular and agree either with the singular or plural verb-predicate. (family, team, crew, government, Manchester United).
e.g. My family has always been friendly. My family are painters and designers.
• Nouns of multitude (существительные множества) are plural invariable nouns, which agree only with the plural predicate (people, police, cattle, poultry, gentry, clergy, vermin, dice).
e.g. The cattle were peacefully grazing in the field.
• Mass nouns (массовые существительные) are divided into singular invariable and plural invariable, i.e. those which can only agree with the singular verb-predicate (money, furniture, equipment) and those, which agree with the plural verb (earnings, goods, wages).
5. Common noun – нарицательное существительное – any noun other than Proper Name.
Common nouns may be countable, uncountable, concrete, abstract or material (a book, a girl, a plan, an idea, music, love, milk, snow).
6. Comparative degree – сравнительная степень – a degree of the adjective or the adverb.
See also: Degrees of comparison.
7. Complement – an obligatory secondary part of the sentence, which is required to make the sentence structure complete. Комплемент (восполняющий компонент, дополнение) – второстепенный член предложения, необходимый для создания полной, законченной структуры предложения: комплемент к подлежащему (предикатив) / комплемент к сказуемому / комплемент к дополнению.
See also: Object complement, Predicate complement, Subject complement, Verb Complementation.
8. Complete sentence – полное предложение – a sentence, which contains the subject and the predicate (opposite – incomplete / elliptical).
e.g. My parents help me a lot.
See also: Elliptical / Incomplete Sentence.
9. Complex sentence – a composite sentence in which there is a principle / main clause and one or more subordinate clauses. Сложноподчиненное предложение – сложное предложение, в котором одно или несколько придаточных предложений находятся в подчинительной связи к главному предложению.
e.g. This is the house where my parents used to live. (attributive clause)
It is not at all clear how they manage to live on such a low income. (subject clause)
See also: Adverbial Clauses, Attributive Clauses, Nominal Clauses.
10. Complex-transitive verb – сложно-переходный глагол – a verb that takes a direct object plus an object complement, which is otherwise called complex object.
e.g. They painted the walls light-blue.
They elected him Chairman.
I saw him arrested.
11. Composite sentence – either a complex or a compound or a complex-compound sentence, i.e. a sentence containing two or more clauses (structurally opposite to Simple Sentence). Сложное предложение – либо сложносочиненное, либо сложноподчиненное предложение.
12. Compound sentence – a composite sentence, consisting of two or more clauses of equal rank. The clauses may be joined either asyndetically (without coordinators) or syndetically (with the help of coordinators). Сложносочиненное предложение – тип сложного предложения, составляющие части которого равны по значению и представляют синтаксическую целостность. Предложения соединены союзной или бессоюзной связью.
e.g. The day was bright and frosty and the children were playing snowballs.
They accused him of stealing money; he accused them of telling lies.
See also: Adversative Coordination, Causative-consecutive Coordination, Copulative Coordination, Disjunctive Coordination.
13. Compound-complex sentence – a type of a composite sentence, whose clauses are joined by means of coordination and subordination. Сложное предложение
с сочинением и подчинением – тип сложного предложения с сочинительной
и подчинительной связью.
e.g. They were tired and she wanted to go to bed, but he asked her to prepare something to eat, because the children were hungry.
14. Conjunct – конъюнкт – an adverbial with a joining (or connective) function, often that of joining a clause orsentence to an earlier clause or sentence.
e.g. First of all, I’d like to thank all those people who helped to carry out the project.
Moreover, the trial period proved our hypothesis.
15. Copulative coordination – type of coordination between the clauses of a compound sentence. The clauses are joined with the help of coordinators and, not only…but also, neither… nor, also, even, moreover etc. Соединительная связь – тип связи в сложносочиненном предложении.
e.g. May is not only an excellent singer, but she also dances very well.
16. Countable (count) noun – исчисляемое существительное – denotes things (abstract and concrete) that can be counted. Singular count nouns are used with the indefinite article (a/an), plural countable nouns are used with the zero article. The nouns are also used with the definite article (the).
e.g. a table, a girl, an idea, a project.t.
She is a beautiful girl. There were two girls in the room. She is the girl I told you about.
See also: Abstract Noun, Functions of the Article, Uncountable Noun.
1. Declarative sentence – either an affirmative or a negative statement, characterized by direct word order with a full stop at the end. Повествовательное предложение – утвердительное или отрицательное предложение с прямым порядком слов, в конце которого ставится точка.
e.g. He gave her a Chinese vase as a birthday present.
2. Degrees of comparison – степени сравнения прилагательного. A three-step scale by which gradable adjectives and adverbs are compared. There are three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative, superlative.
e.g. simple – simpler – simplest; quickly – more quickly – most quickly
3. Delexical verb – лексически ослабленный глагол (т.е. глагол, имеющий ослабленное лексическое значение). The verb having little meaning in itself. In order to give more end-focus or end-weight to an English sentence a verb + noun is used where a plain intransitive verb could be used instead. The verbs used in this way are do, have, give, take, make. The main meaning is carried by this noun, which functions as predicate complement.
e.g. We had dinner in a Chinese restaurant – We dined in the restaurant.
to look – to have a look, to smile – to give a smile, to research – to do research etc.
4. Demonstrative subject – указательное подлежащее – the notional subject expressed by the pronoun it. It points out a person or thing, expressed by the predicative or refers to the preceding statement. The demonstrative subject it is translated into Russian by это.
e.g. It is my cousin Jane. – Это моя двоюродная сестра Джейн.
They were arguing the whole evening. It irritated me. – Они спорили весь вечер. Это раздражало меня.
See also: Formal Subject, Notional Subject, Personal Subject.
5. Descriptive adjective – описательное прилагательное – is used as a noun modifier and answers the question "what kind of?" It may be either premodifying, i.e. used before the noun, or postmodifying, i.e. used after the noun it modifies.
e.g. Harry was a smart, handsome young man.
John Marcus turned out to be an actor manqué.
6. Direct object – прямое дополнение – a noun, a nominal phrase or a clause which follows a monotransitive verb.
e.g. Rachel has bought some vegetables.
I suggest that we should stay at home.
7. Direct word order – прямой порядок слов – a neutral, unemphatic order of the members of the sentence, typical of declarative statements: Subject + Predicate + other sentence members.
e.g. My parents have lived in this house for twenty years. (Subject + Predicate + Adverbial)
Nadine wrote him a letter. (Subject + Predicate + Objects)
8. Disjunct – обособленное обстоятельство – an adverbial that has a more detached role in a sentence structure than other adverbials. It expresses the speaker’s or writer’s attitude to the content of the sentence.
e.g. Tragically, the rescue party arrived too late.
9. Disjunctive coordination – type of coordination between the clauses of a compound sentence. The clauses are joined with the help of coordinators or, either…or, otherwise etc. Разделительная связь – тип связи в сложносочиненном предложении.
e.g. This trip is not dangerous, otherwise Mrs. Dixon would not have let her children join in.
10. Ditransitive verb (also called double transitive) – двупереходный глагол – is followed by two objects (direct and indirect). The position of the objects may change.
e.g. I gave my mother flowers. (indirect object + direct object)
I gave flowers to my mother. (direct object + prepositional object)
11. Double predicate – двойной предикат (сказуемое) – consists of two parts: verbal and nominal. The verbal part is initially a pure intransitive verb, and the nominal part is the subject complement. In other words, the double predicate is the combination of the elements from two different types of predicate: simple verbal and compound nominal.
e.g. The sun rose purple. = The sun rose. The sun was purple.
He died a hero. = He died. He was a hero.
1. Ergative verb – a particular kind of verb with which the same noun can be used as the subject when the verb is intransitive, and as the object when the verb is transitive. Эргативный глагол – глагол, который в одном и том же значении может быть как переходным, так и непереходным.
e.g. My shirt has torn. (intransitive) I’ve torn me shirt. (transitive)
The meat is cooking. I’m cooking the meat.
2. Elliptical (incomplete) sentence – неполное/эллиптическое предложение –
a two-member sentence, in which the word-forms are missing in the subject or predicate position or in both. These word-forms are easily restorable. Elliptical sentences are normal for dialogues.
e.g. – Where do you come from?
– (I come from) New York.
– (Have you) Long been here?
– (I have been here for) Two months.
3. Ellipsis – omission of a word or words from speech or writing that can be recovered by the hearer or reader from contextual cues. Эллипсис – опущение элемента высказывания посредством интонации, повторения, синтаксической позиции и т.д.
There are however grammatical constraints as to what can be omitted. Thus, the same subject can be omitted in a coordinated clause:
e.g. I phoned my aunt and (I) told her the news.
But it cannot be omitted when the link is between main and subordinate clauses:
e.g. I told my aunt the news when I telephoned her.
4. Emphatic subject It – эмфатическое подлежащее – a formal subject expressed by the pronoun it. It is used in cleft sentences with the structure It is/was … that(who) …. In such sentences any part of the sentence, except the predicate, can be emphasized.
e.g. It is people like you that/who hamper the world’s progress. (subject is emphasized)
It was at 6 p.m. that they met. (adverbial of time is emphasized)
It is my Uncle Jeb that I rely on. (object is emphasized)
5. End-focus – the placing of the most important information in a sentence at the end of the sentence. It is normal to introduce the theme of a message (i.e. "given" information at the beginning of a sentence and the important new information later). Thus, end-focus is a normal characteristic of the English sentence structure. Фокусное (значимое) окончание – помещение в конечную (рематическую) позицию информационно наиболее значимой части высказывания.
e.g. They met yesterday at the night club.
6. End-weight – the structural principle by which longer, weighty units of information tend to come at the end of the sentence. Весомое окончание – помещение в конечную (рематическую) позицию синтаксически наиболее распространенной или сложной части высказывания.
e.g. The bread industry has been trying to get the message across that a healthy balanced diet should include sufficient bread.
7. Exclamatory sentence – восклицательное предложение – a communicative type of sentence which expresses ideas emphatically. The word order may be direct or inverted.
e.g. The story is just wonderful!
Isn’t it a lovely day!
8. Expanded / extended sentence – распространенное предложение – a sentence which contains, besides the principal parts, either obligatory or optional secondary parts of the sentence.
e.g. The children are playing very cheerfully. (optional adverbial of manner)
She is a bright student. (optional attribute)
I live in Minsk. (obligatory adverbial of place)
She gave me her phone number. (obligatory objects)
Mr. Jackson is a senior lecturer. (obligatory subject complement)
Hot, silent, summer night! (optional noun modifiers)
1. Imperative mood – повелительное наклонение – the base form of the verb, used to express a command, request, order, exhortation, etc.
e.g. Listen!
Have fun!
Be sensible!
See also: Indicative Mood, Oblique Moods.
2. Impersonal subject It – безличное подлежащее – the formal subject;used in the sentences describing time, weather, measures of all sorts, general state of things.
e.g. It is 5 o’clock. It’s raining. It’s far away from here. It is considered bad manners to stare at people.
See also: Emphatic Subject, Formal Subject, Introductory Subject, Notional Subject.
3. Incomplete (elliptical) sentence – неполное предложение.
See: Elliptical sentence.
4. Indicative mood – изъявительное наклонение – presents actions as real facts in the present, past or future. It possesses all grammatical categories: of tense, aspect, correlation, voice, number and person.
e.g. He is writing a report. These letters were written yesterday. I will send you a telegram. She has never been to England.
See also: Imperative Mood, Oblique Moods.
5. Indirect object – косвенное дополнение – a noun or a nominal phrase that is the ‘recipient’ of the direct object of a ditransitive verb. Typically, when placed after the direct object the indirect object is replaced by a prepositional object with to or for.
e.g. They bought a bicycle for John and gave it to him.
6. Intensification – усиление – the use of an adverb that scales another element upwards or downwards in degrees of intensity.
e.g. You worry a lot. I hardly know them. She is very beautiful.
The term is applied not only to adverbs, but also to adjectives.
e.g. pure joy, downright nonsense, utter rubbish.
7. Interrogative sentence – вопросительное предложение – a communicative type of sentence characterized by inverted word order and a question mark at the end.
There four major types of questions: general, pronominal (special), disjunctive and alternative.
e.g. Do you know the answer to this question? (general)
Where does he live? (special / pronominal)
The weather is wonderful, isn’t it? (disjunctive)
Do you need my help or will you manage yourself? (alternative)
8. Introductory subject It – вводное / вводящее подлежащее – the formal subject it which introduces a notional subject.
e.g. It is important (Cp. That he should accept our proposal is important.)
It is desirable for us to stay at home. (Cp. For us to stay at home is desirable.)
See also: End-weight, Formal subject, Notional Subject.
9. Intransitive verb – непереходный глагол – a verb not taking an object or a complement. However, even intransitive verbs sometimes require the use of an obligatory complement (an adverbial of place).
e.g. The children are playing. (pure intransitive)
I live in Minsk. (intransitive verb + complement adverbial)
10. Invariable noun – неизменяемое существительное – a noun that does not vary in form (i.e. by inflection). Singular invariable are the nouns which are never used in the plural and agree only with singular verb: e.g. love, music, hair, money, milk, sugar etc.
e.g. Blood is thicker than water.
Plural invariable nouns (marked and unmarked) are those which are used in the plural and agree only with plural verb: earnings, goods, police, people etc.
e.g. The goods were delivered in time. (marked, i.e. with the plural ending –s)
The police are looking for the escaped criminal. (unmarked, i.e. without the ending –s)
11. Inversion – an indirect word order in the English sentence. The term is particularly used in relation to the subject and predicate. Инверсия – обратный порядок слов, расположение сказуемого или его глагольной части в личной форме перед подлежащим.
In case of full inversion, the whole predicate is placed before the subject; partial inversion implies that only part of the predicate (auxiliary verb) is placed before the subject.
e.g. ‘I feel exhausted’ – said Mary. (full inversion)
Have you ever been to London? (partial inversion)
See also: Word Order.
1. Negation – отрицание – the grammatical process by which the truth of an affirmative (or positive) clause or sentence is denied. Typically an English clause or sentence is negated by adding not or –n‘t to the primary verb or to the auxiliary.
e.g. This is not difficult.
She couldn’t have failed the test.
2. Nominal clause – именное придаточное предложение – a subordinate clause of a complex sentence, a type of a clause which has a function of the noun and which begins with a wh-word or that. There are 3 types of nominal clauses: subject clause, subject complement (predicative) clause and object clause.
e.g. Whoever told you that was wrong. (subject clause)
The problem is whether they are going to accept our conditions. (subject complement/predicative clause)
I don’t know what happened. (object clause)
That he is always late irritates me. (subject clause)
3. Nominative absolute construction – абсолютные (независимые) именные конструкции – a non-finite or verbless clause containing its own subject, separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma (or commas) and not introduced by a subordinator. These constructions function in the sentence as adverbial modifiers.
e.g. Weather permitting, we shall set off tomorrow morning. (adverbial modifier of condition)
4. Notional subject – смысловое подлежащее – a meaningful, communicative subject which contrasts with a formal subject. Structurally, the notional subject may be simple, phrasal, complex and clausal.
e.g. It is important to send the rescue team at once. (it – formal, to send the rescue team – notional)
See also: Formal Subject, Subject.
5. Non-assertive words – a class of words and phrases that tend to be restricted to questions and negative contexts. Неутвердительные слова – слова и словосочетания, употребляемые в вопросах и отрицательных контекстах.
In addition to the any-series of words (e.g. any, anybody, anything, anywhere, etc.) which contrast with the corresponding words in the some-series, predominantly non-assertive words include yet, much, ever, far, either.
e.g. Haven’t you finished yet? (Cp. I have already finished)
There isn’t much food left. (Cp. There’s a lot of food left)
Have you ever had a winter holiday? (Cp. I always have a winter holiday)
How far is it? – Not far. (Cp. It’s a long way)
Jane didn’t know either. (Cp. Jane knew too)
6. Non-defining clause (non-limiting, non-restrictive) – a relative (attributive) clause that gives additional information about the noun or noun phrase to which it belongs, but it is not defining because the noun phrase is already defined and identifiable. Неопределяющее (описательное) придаточное предложение – придаточное определение, которое дает дополнительную информацию об определяемом существительном, но не уточняет или конкретизирует его.
A non-defining relative/attributive clause is usually separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma or commas, and if it is omitted the sentence will still make a complete sense.
e.g. My aunt, who now lives alone, does the Times crossword every day.
7. Noun-modifier – определение существительного – a word or words modifying a noun. The most common noun modifier is the adjective, however, the nouns in the genitive case, numerals, nouns in the common case and verbals can also function as noun-modifiers. Due to their position, noun-modifiers may be prepositive or postpositive, i.e. used before or after the noun they modify.
e.g. She gave the wrong answer. (prepositive)
The people responsible were sentenced to different terms in prison. (postpositive)
Structurally, noun-modifiers may be simple, phrasal, complex and clausal, i.e. expressed by a single word-form, a phrase, a predicative complex or a clause accordingly.
e.g. She is a beautiful girl. (simple)
He was a man of genuine dignity. (phrasal)
This is the problem for you to solve. (complex)
The young couple who live next door have bought a new car. (clausal)
1. Object – дополнение – an obligatory secondary part of the sentence which occurs after transitive verbs and can become the subject in the passive construction. The object may be direct, indirect, prepositional or cognate.
e.g. We have bought a flat. (direct)
She gave her sister a piece of advice. (indirect)
I have always relied on you. (prepositional)
They have lived a long and happy life. (cognate)
Structurally, the object can be simple, phrasal, complex and clausal.
2. Object complement – комплемент к дополнению – an obligatory secondary part of the sentence which completes the object.
e.g. They appointed him Chairman.
3. Oblique moods – косвенные наклонения – express unreal or problematic actions. Unreal actions are those contradicting reality; problematic actions may be viewed as desired, possible, imaginary, etc. The moods expressing unreal actions are the Conditional Mood and the Subjunctive II, the moods expressing problematic actions are the Subjunctive I and the Suppositional Mood.
4. One-member sentence – односоставное предложение – a simple sentence, whose principal part is neither the subject nor the predicate. They may be nominal or verbal, extended or unextended.
e.g. Summer. Night. Stars in the sky. (nominal)
To believe that! (verbal)
1. Personal subject It – личное подлежащее – the notional subject expressed by the pronoun it, which stands for a definite thing or an abstract idea. It is translated into Russian as он, она, оно.
e.g. He told us the news. It was hopeful. (…Она обнадеживала.)
I saw a fox in the bush. It was badly wounded. (Она была ранена.)
2. Positive degree – положительная степень – a degree of the adjective or the adverb.
See also: Degrees of Comparison.
3. Predicate – a verb that functions as the main structural member of the sentence. The predicate grammatically depends on the subject of the sentence. Сказуемое – глагол, выражающий предикацию и функционирующий в качестве главного структурирующего члена предложения; грамматически зависит от подлежащего.
4. Predicate complement – комплемент к глаголу-сказуемому – an obligatory secondary part of the sentence that completes the predicate. It cannot be the subject in passive clauses.
e.g. This dress costs $50.
She resembles her elder sister.
5. Predicative (subject complement) – an obligatory secondary part of the sentence which follows the link-verb (copular verb) and completes the predication by characterizing the subject. Комплемент к подлежащему/предикатив – именной член предложения, подчиненный глаголу-связке и характеризующий подлежащее.
e.g. This idea sounds ridiculous.
He is a school teacher.
6. Prepositional object – предложное дополнение – an object of a monotransitive prepositional verb.
e.g. How would you account for this mistake?
I can always rely on him.
1. Scope of negation – диапазон отрицания – the range over which the negative word meaningfully extends its influence. Generally, the scope of negation extends from the negative word to the end of the clause; hence the difference in meaning between such pairs as:
e.g. I didn’t ask you to go; I asked you not to go.
They aren’t still here; they still aren’t here.
2. Simple sentence – простое предложение – a single independent clause. Simple sentences contrast with compound and complex sentences.
See: One-member sentence, Two-member-sentence.
3. Subject – the major member of the two-member sentence, grammatically independent of the other members of the sentence, which denotes an agent, an instrument, a recipient or other participants in an action. Structurally, the subject may be simple, phrasal, complex or clausal. Подлежащее – главный член двусоставного предложения, грамматически не зависимый от других членов и указывающий на предмет мысли, к которому относится информация, содержащаяся в сказуемом.
Subject complement – See: Predicative.
6. Substantivized adjective – субстантивированное прилагательное – the adjective which has acquired the qualities of the noun and which functions as such. There are fully and partially substantivized adjectives, i.e. those which have either fully or partially acquired such qualities. Fully substantivized adjectives are used with the zero, the definite, the indefinite article, in the singular and in the plural forms.
e.g. He is an American.
The Americans cherish the freedom of speech and other liberties.
In autumn, different colours gladden the eye: greens, yellows, and reds.
Partially substantivized adjectives are used with the definite article either in the singular or in the plural.
e.g. The rich do not understand the poor.
The incredible has happened: Jack has fallen in love.
7. Superlative degree – превосходная степень – a degree of an adjective or an adverb.
See: Degrees of comparison.
8. Syndetic coordination – союзная связь – coordination of independent clauses of a compound sentence with the help of special coordinators: conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs.
e.g. We were cold and she offered us tea with sandwiches.
9. Synthetic form – синтетическая форма –building a word-form with the help of an inflexion added to the stem (e.g. degrees of adjectives).
e.g. clever – cleverer – cleverest.
See also: Analytical form.
1. Transferred negation – перенос отрицания – the positioning of a negative in the main clause, when logically it belongs in the subordinate clause. Transferred negation is often found with verbs of opinion and perception.
e.g. I don’t think you understand (= I think you don’t understand).
It doesn’t look as if they’re coming now (= It looks as if they are not coming).
2. Transitive verb – переходный глагол – a verb which is followed by an object or complement. There are monotransitive verbs (followed by one object or by one complement), ditransitive verbs (followed by two objects) and complex-transitive followed by one object + complement).
e.g. Susie was cleaning the room. (monotransitive)
Those gadgets sold cheap. (monotransitive)
They offered him a well-paid job. (ditransitive)
The people elected him President. (complex-transitive)
3. Two-member sentence – двусоставное предложение – a sentence containing at least one subject and predicate unit. These sentences may be complete or incomplete (or elliptical), extended or unextended.
e.g. The child is sleeping. (complete, unextended)
The tired child is sleeping soundly. (complete, extended by optional element)
He feels tired. (complete, extended by obligatory element)
Where do you come from? – Boston. (elliptical)
